


Intermission 1: Food for thought.

by calumTraveler



Category: Hiveswap, Homestuck
Genre: Gen, Ghosts, Joey has some bad nightmares, Potential Moirailgence, Quadrant talk, and a bizzare take on the evident auto-translate ability the portal's given Joey, overgrown gardens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-19
Updated: 2017-09-19
Packaged: 2018-12-31 15:58:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12135939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/calumTraveler/pseuds/calumTraveler
Summary: Joey and Xefros hole up in an abandoned Hive for the morning to wait out Alternia's sun.





	1. Enter the old Hive

Your name is JOEY CLAIRE and you're kind of in over your head.  
  
Monsters attacked your house, you were transported to another world, and are now riding with an ALIEN on the back of a DEERCAT LUSUS that you named SIR LICKS ALOT that belonged to the other alien who almost certainly has been transported to your house, if he was that dude with the horns you briefly saw when you were transported here.  
  
You hope your little brother JUDE both will and won't run into him. On the one hand, this DAMMEK guy seems like he knows his way around a few guns. If anybody could help keep Jude from being monster chow, it'd be him. On the other hand, he seems like a BIT OF A JERK if what XEFROS has said about him is anything to go by.  
  
Xefros is the name of the Alien sitting right behind you, by the way, in case you hadn't caught that already.  
  
Really, though, all things considered there are worse ways a day could have gone.  
  
Xefros says something to you, and it takes you a moment to try and process the words. It's weird, the way you've been able to read this alien language and understand it. It also applies to voices as well, it seems, but that's a bit more confusing than should be possible. You're hearing two different tongues at once, it feels like. Both the original language, and then English over top of it? It's... weird. Really weird. The Portal must have done something to your brain, that's the only real explanation.  
  
The more you hear it, though, the more you're hearing English rather than... whatever the name of the language is. You need to ask Xefros when you get a chance. Anyways, back to what he's saying... something something... Danger? Sun rising? He sounds nervous and he's not quite making sense. Undead? That can't be right.  
You tap out a question to hasten the conversation along, "What's wrong with the Sun coming up?"  
  
Xefros types out his reply, figuring it to be easier than explain aloud. And your stomach bottoms out just a little. This really is an alien planet, isn't it?  
  
Still, you agree that it'd probably be for the best to hunker down for a few hours and get some rest. Back on Earth it'd be getting close to your bed time.  
  
Xefros says some stuff to Sir Licks Alot, and with some nudging of agreement from you, the deercat diverges off the road towards what seems to be the ruins of a long destroyed house- Hive?- that should provide shelter from the sun's harsh gaze... and the apparent undead army that might be roaming around during the day.  
The house- Hive!- you've found seems to have been home to a heretical mutant blood, Xefros says, looking at the dead frame of what seems to be a giant crab lusus, curled around a smaller frame of... oh, god. That's definitely a dead troll, isn't it?  
  
For the first time, you get a good look at the differences of a Troll's skeleton versus a human's. The majority of the differences stand out at the skull, prominently. Long, swooping things that have since been broken and shattered into pieces. The way they emerge from the skull is definitely alien.  
  
Xefros suggests clearing the bodies away before there's a chance they could reanimate with you two nearby. You finally decide to ask how that's possible.  
Xefros says something about ghosts sticking around, and sometimes the vengeful spirits can reanimate their bodies, and attack the living, uncaring of if the person they're attacking is even related to how they died or not.  
  
Xefros says that as a psychic, he can commune with dead spirits- of which there tend to be a lot on Alt... Alter...  
  
"Alternia?"  
  
"Yah," he nods. That's the name of the planet, he says, ALTERNIA.  
  
Alternia, you repeat the name a few times to try and get the way it rolls off of his tongue down on yours. To him, you sound like you're speaking with a bad accent. You're trying to rectify that, though. If you're going to be spending any long amount of time here on Alternia, you'll at least want to sound the part. (Though, Xefros said most trolls might mistake it for your audible typing quirk. Who ever heard of such a thing? An audible typing quirk? How silly is that! It's not like Xefros is actually slipping a bunch of X's into his words as he speaks. (At least, you're pretty sure he's not. You're still dealing with that weird kind of double speak echo going on.) Although, you suppose if someone had a Lisp they were replicating in text form... maybe '2's for 'S's? ...But at any rate, the name of the planet and important things are things you should know how to say properly.)  
  
You two search the hive for a little bit and then find what seems to be an old garden in the back yard that's really overgrown in the time it's tenders have been dead.  
  
Xefros takes to plundering it for usable food- actual food that isn't insect based! Huzzah! (Even if it does look downright alien. Bleck.)- and then sets about clearing a small grave using the shovel (though he calls it something weird and you don't quite catch what it is) he'd used to plunder the garden for food.  
  
And then, using the hoverpad, you gracefully put the dead troll and his Lusus' remains into the grave.  
  
The sun starts to rise by the time you've both finished recovering the grave with dirt.  
  
You slip inside, and Xefros does something that makes the windows tint over black. As the sun rises in the view, you realize they're like giant solar eclipse specs! Like the little paper glasses your teacher at school gave your class once so you could look at the sun without burning your eyes out.  
  
As this happens, you can see that the sun here on Alternia is... quite a lot bigger than the sun on Earth.  
  
By a LOT.  
  
Like. You're not sure on an exact number, but if you had to make up a number, you'd say it's at least three times as big.  
  
Xefros says something about it being the dark season so it shouldn't be up for too long. So you ask him, "What are the days and years like here? How long and how many?"  
  
"Years?" Xef. Oh, poor adorable Xefros has no idea what Years are. He's confused by your human terminology.  
  
"Like, how long it takes for the planet to orbit the sun once." You clarify.  
  
He seems to consider it for a few moments, then, "Ah!" He nods. "Solar Sweep." And then he launches into a string of words that you can't quite catch everything from. (You ask him to type it out for reference later, just to make sure you got everything.) Once he finishes, you explain your own planet's mechanics.  
  
As you both talk, Xefros prepares what food was scavenged into something appearing edible. It's mostly plant matter, so you hope BYERS, one of your brother's CARRIER PIGEONS, can eat some of it. Actually, you're hesitant to try eating any of it yourself just yet, so you shamelessly use Byers as a taste tester. (Hey! If the bird thinks it can safely eat it so can you! Probably.) Still... it's probably better for you anyways than those Bake-a-Cake things.  
  
Xefros briefly gives you an odd look as you take the bird out, but with a simple explanation that you're watching it for your brother seems to answer any questions he might have for the moment while you all eat.  
  
Working out the math as you chew on your late dinner, you both come to figure out that roughly two and a half Earth years equal one Alternian Solar Sweep. Putting your ages into comparison, when you were thirteen, you would be six here on Alternia.  
  
It's quite an interesting little tidbit, but it helps you figure out what the right things to say are if someone questions you on your own. (You really hope nobody questions you on your own.)  
  
So, at fourteen, you'd say instead "I'm Six and a half."  
  
That's... basically the gist of it and is about as close as either of you can figure out without busting out a calculator.


	2. Ghosts and Nightmares

It's as you're finishing up with your meal that Xefros suddenly freezes, as if he sees something strange... and then starts talking to the air.  
  
He's defensive at first, but then slowly relaxes once he explains that you two were merely just BORROWING their hive for shelter from the sun and---  
  
OH.  
  
MY.  
  
GOD.  
  
He's communing with the ghost of the dead troll you just buried.  
  
After a bit of conversation, it seems the Ghost seems sympathetic to the idea of rebellion, and then two chunks of their broken horns come floating out from the gave you'd dug- seemingly all on their own.  
  
And then Xefros says the ghost wants you- YOU SPECIFICALLY- to wear part of their horns so you can hide better. So you won't be culled on sight like they were for their blood. So that you can be proudly wearing them when you finally succeed and overthrow the Heiress.  
  
It's a lot to ask of a girl, honestly! But... You graciously accept, and work on figuring out how to attach the horn fragments safely to your jacket's hood. Maybe if you had a headband it might work better...? Oh well.  
  
In between figuring out how to accomplish this strange task, you ask Xefros about other parts of the world that is Alternia, and in turn, he asks you about Earth.  
  
The topic of hobbies comes up, he talks about the sports team he's on, and you mention tap dancing and ballet. From there, you drift from hobbies to favored foods- and from there to television shows and video games (Earth seems to be the clear winner in most regards there) to computers (After a bit of talking, it seems Earth isn't too far behind Alternia) and then to movies (Alternia does seem to be somewhat more advanced than Earth in terms of sheer movie title history, even if modern titles are just... absurd!).  
  
It's around that point that your stomach starts protesting, and you realize you haven't hit up a bathroom in hours. (Stupid! Wasn't it just down the hallway from yours and Jude's bedrooms? But then again there were MONSTERS and that bathroom wouldn't be the most defensable position... Oh god, you're sounding like Jude again.) So, you awkwardly ask Xefros where a bathroom would be.  
  
Of course, he has no idea what that is. Great! Of all the concepts to not carry over linguistically, it had to be this one!  
  
So you try phrasing it something like "The room you visit after the food you ate wants to go out?" And that seems to click cause he's able to generally hunt down the right room easily enough. Of course, due to the nature of this house being abandoned for long enough for a body to skeletonize, the 'load gapper' isn't anywhere near as functional as you or Xefros would hope it'd be.  
  
Oh well, you muse with a tired yawn, it'll do for how little time you'll actually be here. A quick rotation cycle of using the room later, and you've decided it's time to actually get some sleep.

* * *

  
Sir Licks Alot's snoozing body feels surprisingly comfy against your back.  
  
Xefros seems restless next to you, and you wonder if that has anything to do with his own Lusus being slower at following Sir Licks Alot's fast pounding pace. (You hope it's okay.)  
  
So... you ask, quietly, so as not to disturb the deercat. "Xef? You okay?"  
  
"It's... I'm sure I'll be fine. The Tet- Dammek. Dammek had me practicing to sleep outside of the slime for situations just like this," Xefros answers just as quietly. "I'm just worried about Sleepyhead."  
  
Aw, that's an adorable name for a Sloth Lusus.  
  
Wait.  
  
"Sleep in the slime?" you ask.  
  
"Ah, yeah. Trolls have..." pretty violent nightmares? Xefros says with a mild shrug. "So we sleep in Sopor Slime to keep them at bay."  
  
"...Kinda green stuff in a large container?" You ask, thinking back to Dammek's hive.  
  
"Yup, that's the stuff," Xefros nods.  
  
On the one hand, wow, prick Dammek strikes again for making Xef sleep outside of it. On the other, well, it seemingly is coming in handy, you suppose.  
  
"...Just wish he'd told me why first..." you hear Xefros mutter, and any good will you might have had towards Dammek having Xefros learn this 'skill' evaporates like you'd imagine the slime would when exposed to the sunlight.  
  
"I promise that if you wake me up screaming or whatever, I won't get mad," you promise him.  
  
"Thanks," Xefros says, smiling.  
  
"Night, Xef."  
  
"Night Joey."  
  
Soon enough, you're both asleep.  
  
Ironically, though, it's _you_ who has the nightmares. Of being eaten by one of those black skinned, green mouthed monsters from home, of being forced to watch from inside one of those beasts as Jude and your poor Puppy are cooked alive over the burning wreckage of your house, of then being forced to watch your PA and your BABYSITTER arriving to find the house in ruins, and you and Jude's bones lying bleached in the sun.  
  
And you wake up almost screaming. You probably would be if Xef hadn't been applying his psyonics to gently keep your jaw closed.  
  
Once he sees you're awake, he doesn't quite let go for reasons that soon become obvious. There's the sounds of hovering Drones flying around outside. Once you move your own hands over your mouth to show you understand, he lets go of a grip that he must have been holding for a while because he seems rather exhausted from the endeavor.  
  
You sit there in the relative silence of a timeless section of time. Thanks to the sun blinders, you don't really have any way of telling what time of day or night it is. It's hot, so it still must be Alternia's day time, but it's late enough in the day that the sun itself isn't showing on the blinders.  
  
It's only about ten or so minutes later that the sounds of the drones have passed, and you both allow yourselves the freedom of breathing out in relief. A relief that's quickly overrun in your head by remembering exactly what woke you up in the first place. You start breathing in sharply. There's a term for it but you don't even have the ability to remember it right now.  
  
"Nightmares?" Xefros asks suddenly- and you- you nod in response, and then open your mouth to explain.  
  
But somewhere along the way your sleep shocked brain decides it's a better idea just to vent about everything.  
  
And so you do. You complain about Roxy being drunk all the time. About Pa being away so much more often lately that you grew to resent it and you'd disowned the Harley name than carry it a single day more. About how even though you think these things- you still are tormented with the nightmarish visions of them finding you and Jude dead and how AWFUL that'd affect your Pa especially after he lost Mom too. AND WHAT ABOUT THE MONSTERS ANYWAYS!? Who sent them!? WHY!? Why attack YOUR FAMILY?! Did they want the portal?? What for?? Why go to all that trouble!!?  
  
You're briefly snapped out of your rant, as Sir Licks Alot has woken up and starts licking at you in an attempt to calm you down. You don't even realize you'd been crying until Xef whisper-comments about your tears being completely transparent and hands you something to wipe your eyes with.  
  
You'd be half angry at how insensitive that remark was until he pulls you into a hug, whispering that it'll be okay.  
  
But will it? You ask him- near sobbing. Even if everything works out for the best here on Alternia, what about home? What about Jude? And leaving aside his personality, will Dammek even be able to help solve what's going on there in any way? What if they have to destroy the portal on their end to keep it out of the cultists hands? What if you're STUCK here on Alternia for the rest of your life? You can't live with the possibility that everything went wrong back at home and you'll NEVER KNOW what happened because you can't go back!  
  
You... you can't... You couldn't live with yourself if Jude got himself killed because you weren't there to help him.  
  
As screwed up as Alternia is, Xef begins in not those exact words, "I... I know what you mean. Even if we succeed and get rid of the Heiress, and somehow, miraculously, get rid of the Empress too... If Dammek never comes back... we've known each other since we were wigglers. How could I live never being able to speak to him again? To ask him... stuff. Important stuff. And maybe... at least..." he trailed off into a barely audible whisper that kind of sounded like confronting him about their Moirailgence?  
  
You still don't know what that is, but you're too tired- physically and emotionally- to ask. You also aren't sure if you were even supposed to hear that part or not.  
  
"And even despite all of that! How could we not celebrate that the Rebellion worked, if it does actually work?" He asked. "And if it doesn't... If he doesn't..."  
You hug him back.  
  
Neither of you really say anything more, and you both fall asleep under Sir Licks Alot's tender care.  



	3. Exit the Hive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies if I screwed up the spelling on the Quadrant terms anywhere. Auto correct doesn't want to recognize them.

In what you'd first assumed was the morning- rather, Alternia's evening but what felt like an Earth morning to you- you once again woke up, this time first, and due to Xefros whining in his sleep.  
  
You aren't sure what drove you to do it, but you stroked your hand through his hair like you remember your Mom doing sometimes when you were little. It seems to help a bit, and his whining softens down into... a purr? Is he purring? Do trolls PURR? Is that a thing??? Is that a Troll thing or just a Xefros thing????  
  
Soon enough, Sir Licks Alot seemed to wake up properly and starts licking you as if to say "wake up!" before realizing, oh, yes, you were indeed awake, and then gives you one good lick to say 'good morning, time to get up!'  
  
He likes to lick you a lot, you've noticed. You wonder if that's just a Deercat thing, or a specific Sir Licks Alot thing.  
  
Either way, you reluctantly get up and go try to do what morning ritual things you can. You don't have a way of brushing your teeth, or taking a bath if it were a day for that, or really combing your hair, either. By the time you make it downstairs again, Xefros is up properly, and scrounging around in his sylladex to see what food is left over from last night.  
  
That was really a surprise to both of you- somehow, common across two whole alien worlds, is a common inventory system. But, considering the portal and it's weird auto-translate thing, and everything else that had happened, it wasn't the most absurd coincidence in existence.  
  
Breakfast is a quickly handled affair, given that there isn't much leafy stuff left to eat, and with a check of the sun's position- presently sunset lighting of a world whose sun was hidden behind the distant scenery, but was still casting enough light to make the horizon burn orange- you're stuck waiting just a little bit longer.  
SO... you ask Xefros an important question.  
  
"You've mentioned that Dammek's your Moirail before" seems like an insensitive way to start, so you instead phrase it more like this:  
  
"When we were talking about movies last night, I noticed that there was a lot of different romance terms Alternia uses." You see Xefros looking at you with both expectation and hesitance, evidently both knowing where you're going with this and wondering what exactly you're going to ask. "There was stuff like kismesis, matesprit, moirail-" he flinches ever so slightly. "What are those exactly? Are there any others?"  
  
And then he relaxes a little, understanding you're not trying to ask about him and Dammek specifically- or at least, not directly phrasing it that way intentionally.   
  
"Well, our romance is split up into quadrants," Xef explains. "Two sets divided by two sets, sort of." You'd imagine he'd have used some kind of "X" substitution in there somewhere if he'd typed it out. "There's the Flushed half, and the Ashen half-" he pauses, realizing you're a bit lost by the specific terminology. "Ah, the Positive Emotions, and the Negative Emotions. Then there's the... ah... Reproductive side, and the... Oh, what's the word?" He's actually trying to make sure you understand it considering that whatever translation effect doesn't seem to be able to match idioms. "I guess the best way to put it is the Caring side?"  
  
You nod in understanding of that so far.  
  
"So, to group them first like that, Moirail and Auspitice fall into the Caring side, Matesprit and Kismesis fall into the Reproductive side." Xefros explains. "You can then pair them off differently, with Matesprit and Mo- Moirail falling under Positive emotions, and Kismesis and Auspitice falling under Negative emotions."  
  
He gets a sheet of paper out from one of his books, and quickly draws a grid, filling it in with four symbols that you recognize as card suits. He then points to them in order, Matesprit to the Heart, Moriail to Diamond, Kismesis to Spades, and Auspitice to Clubs.   
  
"Okay, I think I got it so far. So what does each do?" You ask.  
  
"Well, ah... Matesprits I guess, is a good place to start," Xefros blushes nervously- you can only imagine why, if it's one of the ...ah, Reproductive Quadrants. "So, Matesprits are like... two people who look at each other romantically and are in love. They care for each other in all these positive ways, I guess? But not *all* of the positive ways. Like, you don't have Matesprits calming each other down when they're mad, usually. That- uh- that tends to lead to quadrant flipping."  
  
"Flipping?" You consider that for a moment. "I.. think I kind of see where this is going, maybe?" You point to the Hearts icon, then to the Spades, and ask if that's what he means.  
  
Xefros nods. "Basically, yeah. But that's from positive emotions to negative. If it's on the positive, it goes from..." He points to the Hearts, then to Diamonds. "Moirails typically..." He swallows. "Moirails typically help keep each other balanced, though usually on TV and in Movies it's one more dangerous one kept at bay by a more sane one? I guess it's easier to write it that way."  
  
You nod. TV shows always do seem to have limited views of their characters sometimes, depending on the writer.   
  
"Anyways, Moirails are supposed to keep each other from flipping out, and also... kind of push each other to be better people?" He shook his head. "But I'm not so sure on that part... exactly." He takes a breath, then says, "So, that's the positive side of things. The negative side is... uh..." He coughs to clear his throat. "So, if Matesprits are romatic love through positive emotions, Kismesises are romantic love parsed through..." He mumbles a few words before settling on, "I guess a Rivalry would be the best term for it?"  
  
You think back on your own media back on earth, and you... think you kind of get the picture? Like, some characters have their romantic love interest, and at the same time, have a rival character who could *also* be a love interest but clearly it would never work out that way because--  
  
 _Because Earth only has **one type of romance**._  
  
"So," Xefros continues, "if a Kismesisitude is stable- with it being Romantic... Hate? I don't know if that's the right word or not, but... basically the last quadrant is what happens when that hate is pretty platonic and two people nearly come to killing each other." Your shock must be evident, because Xefros hurriedly adds: "S-So a third person then enters the picture and keeps them from fighting to a point of killing each other! If they do their job right then nobody gets hurt and it's all balanced out!"  
  
You consider it all, and then point to each quadrant in turn.  
  
"I think I understand this one the best," you point to the Hearts. "I think that's pretty close to what everyone on Earth thinks of when they talk about love." You pause, move to Spades. "I think I kind of understand this one? Like, we have a concept similar to it?? But it's not... romantic? Usually if it is, On TV they kind of... merge it back to this?" You point back to Hearts.  
  
"Eeesh, sounds messy," Xefros grimaces.  
  
"It kinda is," you nod, "especially if there's another person in the role of love interest already." You point to Diamonds, and Clubs, "These two... we don't use Romance as a term for it. We have these people called Psycha... Psyciatric... Psy..." you frown. You should know that word. You should. "Er, basically doctors who help keep your mind stable. Councilors? I guess?" That's one of the words, but not the one you wanted. "Sometimes they work one on one, other times they keep couples who are fighting from, er... yeah. Anyways, it's a job that takes a lot of training on Earth so they get paid money for doing it..." Even if most people don't seem to take it seriously. Alternia seems a little bit more advanced in that regard.   
  
"Huh," Xefros muses, "that's... odd. But I can see where they're coming from there." He pauses, scratching at the back of his head nervously. "I mean, you hear horror stories all the time on the news about an Auspiticize failing to do their job and one of the three trolls killing the others. It's one of the trickiest quadrants to get right, honestly." A pause, then he says, "That really sounds like a great idea, really. Paid and trained Auspiticeships."  
  
"Maybe if this rebellion thing works out, we can put something in place for that," You suggest. "At the very least, offer courses for people to take if they think they're getting into one of those."   
  
"Yeah," Xef nods, agreeing that it sounds like something in an otherwise working system that needs fixing, really.   
  
"Okay," You say after a few moments of silence, "work me through the proper terms for this so I don't flub it up?"  
  
And so you work on it to yourself, filling in the rest of the time before you're able to set out again. Flushed, Pale, Ashen, Pitch. Matesprit, Moirail, Auspiticize, Kismesis.

You get on the Deercat soon enough, and are heading out when you spot the most interesting billboard.  
  
"...Xefros," You say after taking a picture of it to make sure you weren't seeing things. "What's the name of this movie here?"  
  
Xefros looks at it, squints at the somewhat blurry text on the picture, then reads, "In which Daniel Jakson, played by Troll James Spader, teams up with former retired Threshecutioner Jaahck Oneill, played by Troll Kurt Russell, and a team of the Empress's Elite Threshecutioners, played by various supporting actors, to unlock the code of an ancient interstellar gateway to an ancient Alternian-like world ruled by a despotic, false god calling himself Cali-"  
  
"Thanks, Xef," You say, before he goes any further. "That's... almost exactly like a movie that came out on Earth just..." let's see, if it was the eleventh today, going back to the twenty-eighth... "Two weeks ago? I mean, the leading actors names are literally the same except with "Troll" stuck on front! Why is that even like that?"  
  
"Oh, right," Xefros nods. "It's their stage names. They don't follow the six-six pattern everyone's names usually do."  
  
"Ohhh..." You pause, "okay." Yeah, that makes sense.  
  
"So, this movie just came out on Earth?" Xefros asks.   
  
"Yup," You nod.  
  
"...Huh. This billboard at least a sweep old, and it's a remake of an older one, too, which came out like, fifty sweeps ago! I wonder why they didn't take it down for something newer? ...Somebody probably got culled, I guess."  
  
At the news that it's *already out,* you gasp, turning to look over your shoulder with a wide eyed grin. "Xeeefrooos! I have to see it! I need to see it all!!"  
  
"Why?" Xefros asks, frowning. "Honestly, it sounds kind'f like your situation here, except less ancient-world and more..."  
  
"Because I never got a chance to go see it on Earth!" You exclaim. "None of our local theaters carried it!"  
  
"Okay, I'll see if I can find a copy on Scythian or something," Xefros nods. "Though, out of curiosity, what did they call it on Earth?"  
  
"Stargate!"   
  
Xef muses on it, then says, "I know I'm not the best at this whole spy thing, but, I think that'd make an excellent code name for the portal that brought you here."  
  
You think on it for a moment, and realize, yeah, Dammek's paranoia about being overheard is probably justified here. If the portal's force shield ever collapses on its own accord, and someone unsavory got their hands on it and made their way to earth- (Huh, maybe that's who sent those monsters? Maybe they want to get back to Alternia because they went to earth trying to take it over?) -well, conspiracies aside, calling the portal a "stargate" would certainly confuse anyone who wasn't aware of what it is.   
  
Plus, even IF the Alternian version of the movie uses that same name somewhere in it, that has the added benefit of having people who hear you talk about it think you're talking about the thing from the movie and not... you know, the portal that actually brought you here.  
  
At any rate, once this movie conversation falls away and Xef hands you back Dammek's tablet just a little bit too quickly, an uncomfortable sort of silence falls between you two and you realize, this morning's conversation about Troll Romance aside, neither of you have directly talked about what happened last night. And you're kind of coming to the realization that you very well might have just... stole Xefros from Dammek's Pale Quadrant? Accidentally??  
  
Oh. God.  Thinking back over everything you said since you arrived here on Alternia, you start to panic just a little at the idea that somehow you fell ass backwards into a relationship you didn't realize was a relationship.   
  
Your name is JOEY CLAIRE, and you _**really hope**_ that your conversation this morning on the subject of Troll Romance reassured him that wasn't your intent at all.  Even if Dammek's been coming off as a bit of a jerk, you don't want to steal Xefros from him! (Although... maybe just a little, you kind of do?? AAAH! No! Bad Joey! That way lies further Troll Romance Madness!!)  
  
Grimacing a little, you come to the realization that you are DEFINITELY in way over your head on this. 


End file.
